Fabrizio Romano confirms main Giovanni Leoni replace this night

Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni has made the 25-man shortlist of finalists for the Golden Boy 2025 award.

The Italian centre-back has been recognised as considered one of Europe’s elite younger footballers following a breakout marketing campaign with Parma.

There have been 17 appearances made (1,205 minutes) for the Serie A facet within the 2024/25 season as I Crociati completed sixteenth.

Fabrizio Romano confirms main Giovanni Leoni achievement

(Photograph by Jan Kruger/Getty Photographs)

Fabrizio Romano shared particulars of the 25-strong listing on X (previously Twitter) on Wednesday night.

The shortlist additionally comprises outstanding Premier League footballers, together with Leny Yoro (Manchester United), Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal), and Archie Gray (Tottenham), amongst others.

🚨 OFFICIAL: Golden Boy 2025 finalists as 25-men shortlist has been unveiled ⭐️

Désiré Doué 🇫🇷Leny Yoro 🇫🇷Senny Mayulu 🇫🇷Warren Zaire-Emery 🇫🇷Eliesse Ben Seghir 🇫🇷Mamadou Sarr 🇫🇷Ethan Nwaneri 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Nico O’Reilly 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Archie Grey 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Jobe Bellingham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Pau Cubarsí 🇪🇸Dean Huijsen… pic.twitter.com/8AYkVbVqqz

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 15, 2025

Leoni sadly picked up an ACL harm in his solely Liverpool look within the 2025/26 season – a 1-0 win over Southampton within the Carabao Cup.

When will Leoni be again from harm?

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot already confirmed that his younger defender could be sidelined ‘for a 12 months’.

Evaluation from harm skilled Ben Dinnery claimed that the footballer could not return to the pitch till as late as early 2027.

Both means, anticipate Giovanni Leoni to overlook out on the remainder of the 2025/26 season on the naked minimal.

Who deserves to win the Golden Boy award?

If we’re to foretell the potential winner of the Golden Boy award through statistics, our Italian starlet’s probabilities don’t look significantly optimistic.

Common ranking within the 2024/25 season

Franco Mastantuono – 7.7/10

Need Doue – 7.5/10

Nico O’Reilly – 7.4/10

Estevão – 7.4/10

Pio Esposito – 7.3/10

Jobe Bellingham – 7.2/10

Kenan Yildiz – 7.2/10

Arda Güler – 7.2/10

Dean Huijsen – 7.2/10

Geovany Quenda – 7.1/10

Rodrigo Mora – 7.1/10

Jorrel Hato – 7.1/10

Aleksandar Stanković – 7.1/10

Eliesse Ben Seghir – 7/10

Warren Zaire-Emery – 7/10

Victor Froholdt – 7/10

Senny Mayulu – 6.9/10

Ethan Nwaneri – 6.9/10

Pau Cubarsí – 6.9/10

Lucas Bergvall – 6.8/10

Mamadou Sarr – 6.8/10

Giovanni Leoni – 6.56/10

Leny Yoro – 6.45/10

Archie Grey – 6.17

* Giovanni Leoni’s common ranking from the 2024/25 season in contrast along with his friends (Fotmob)

That stated, (statistical) appearances could be deceiving. The information, as an illustration, doesn’t consider the comparative problem of leagues, which can absolutely have influenced every participant’s skill to thrive for his or her respective golf equipment.

As we’ve seen at a tier above with the Ballon d’Or, arguably unfair weighting is given to attacking gamers, with constant brilliance from goalkeepers and defenders usually undervalued.

The common information could counsel our summer time signing isn’t price a re-evaluation.

Giovanni Leoni holds Romelu Lukaku's shirt with the striker lying on the turf. — (Photograph by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Photographs)

But, we all know for a incontrovertible fact that Giovanni Leoni set himself aside with some critically mature performances in Serie A in opposition to elite strikers like Romelu Lukaku.

So spectacular was the 18-year-old centre-half that legendary supervisor Arrigo Sachi was left ‘satisfied’ that the defender was destined to turn out to be the ‘linchpin’ of Italy’s defence.

So, stats don’t inform the entire story.